This short documentary is the portrait of an 88-year-old woman who lives alone in a log cabin without running water or electricity in the Williams Lake area of British Columbia. The daughter of a Shuswap chief, Augusta lost her Indian status as the result of a marriage to a white man. She recalls past times, but lives very much in the present. Self-sufficient, dedicated to her people, she spreads warmth wherever she moves, with her songs and her harmonica.
Direction
Wheeler resists poverty porn—just presence, dignity, harmonica.
Production
16 minutes that took 50 years of colonial policy to create.
Acting
Augusta performs herself; no script needed.
Director
Anne Wheeler
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The Indian Act's 'marrying out' rule stripped thousands of Indigenous women of status until 1985—Augusta's story is one systemic theft among many.
Director Anne Wheeler later became one of Canada's most acclaimed filmmakers; this was her early student work at Simon Fraser University.
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